Karen was asleep when she woke up from a nightmare. She ran into Caroline's room to check on her. She sighed in relief to see her there and absolutely fine.
"Hi sweetie," she said, picking her up.
She kissed the little girl's blonde curls.
Leland came into the room where Karen was in.
"Honey," he said, "Are you okay?"
"I just… I had a nightmare," Karen said, "I dreamed we lost Caroline to SIDS."
Leland kissed her forehead.
"We're not going to lose her to anything," he assured Karen gently and firmly.
"I just get scared sometimes," Karen said.
"I know," Leland assured Karen, "So do I. But look at how big she is. She's two months old and already she's 12 ½ pounds."
"Hey," Trudy said, "Tomorrow there's going to be a show, Little Women at the local theater."
"Great," Dwight said.
"We'll get tickets," Marsha added.
Dwight nodded in agreement. Marsha called and ordered tickets for ten rows back center.
"All set," she said, "We'll be seeing the afternoon show since it's better seating."
"I really appreciate everything you do for us," Trudy said.
"You mean everything to us," Dwight replied.
Marsha and Adrian nodded in agreement.
"You all mean everything to me too," Trudy replied, "I just hope I'm not taking advantage."
"Taking advantage is the furthest thing from what you're doing. You're extremely reasonable. We love you."
"I love you guys too," Trudy said, "It's so great having you guys here. I just hope it's not disrupting your lives too much."
"Your mom is right," Dwight said, "When you 'died' that disrupted our lives. Having you back is the best gift GOD could ever give us."
"Don't you miss your home," Trudy asked.
"Not at all," Marsha said, "We love staying with you guys."
"Yeah? Even though you guys can't have fun when I'm asleep?"
"We have plenty of fun," Dwight said.
"Speaking of which," Marsha interrupted, "We'd better get going. The reservations for Joe's Steakhouse are in 30 minutes."
"Aunt Beth said she'd send a limo for us," Trudy said, "It should be here in a few minutes."
Dwight got her crutches. Trudy carefully came downstairs. The limo came a few minutes later. Trudy got in first followed by Adrian, Marsha and Dwight.
"So, dad," Trudy said after they all were in the limo, "What did you want for your birthday?"
"Honey, I got my birthday gift months ago," Dwight said, "Every year for the past ten years when I would blow out the candles on my birthday cake, I would wish for one thing. I would wish for the one thing I knew I could never have. It's the same thing your mom and Adrian would wish for. We all knew it was impossible, but it didn't stop us wishing. The day that we found out you were alive was literally the best day of my life. It was the best day of your mother's life. It was the best day of Adrian's life too."
"I should have picked up on what Adrian was saying," Marsha added.
"You were closer than I was," Dwight replied, "I thought it was a new vacuum."
Trudy cracked up. That would be the kind of gift Adrian would think would be the perfect gift.
"I remember," Marsha said, "I thought my guess was ridiculous. I thought it was wishful thinking."
Dwight put an arm around his wife.
"Wishful thinking isn't ridiculous," he said gently, "I myself did plenty of wishful thinking."
"Happy birthday dad," Trudy said at the end of dinner, "Make a wish."
Dwight smiled.
"It already came true," he said, kissing her on the forehead.
"After the wedding and the honeymoon, Trudy and I are going to adopt a newborn little girl from Saint Mary's Orphanage for Girls," Adrian announced.
"You are? That's wonderful," Dwight said.
"We even picked out a name," Trudy said, "Hope Julia."
"I've always loved the name Hope," Marsha said, "It was on the short list for your name. The week before you were born an angel in my dream told me to name you Trudy. She said that you had a soul of strength and that you would appear to fall but rise again. That's where we got Anne from. Anastasia means she will rise again but that was too long so we shortened it to Anne.
